Doll stroller having detachable body



Nov, 27, 1962 R. -v. RUTKOWSKI 3,065,975

DOLL STROLLER HAVING DETACHABLE BODY Filed Mafch 7, 19s2 2 SheetsSheet 1 M WQ M Mttarneus.

Nov. 27, 1962 R. v. RUTKOWSKI 3,065,975

DOLL STROLLER HAVING DETACHABLE BODY Filed March 7, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 6, ww w 3,065,975 Fatented Nov. 27, 1962 3 065975 noLL srnoLLER H yIN DETACHABLE BODY Roman V. Rutkowski, South Bend, Ind, assignor to South Bend Toy Manufacturing Co., Inc., South Bend, Ind. Filed Mar. 7, 1962, Ser. No. 178,191 3 Claims. (Cl. 2$041) The present invention relates to a doll stroller having a detachable body and more particularly to a combination supporting frame and body which are detachably connected together.

Baby or doll carriages and strollers conventionally comprise a chassis or supporting frame which carries a body in which a baby or doll is transported. Some such carriages and strollers have detachable bodies which may be separated from the chassis and used as bassinets or seats which may be rested upon a Hat supporting surface or the like. For the carriages and strollers having detachable bodies, it is desirable that the mechanism by which the body is attached to the chassis be the ultimate in simplicity from the standpoints of operation and construction whereby only a minimum of manipulation is required in attaching and detaching the body. Also, it is desirable to provide in the mechanism an arrangement for securely attaching the body to the chassis such that it cannot be accidentally dislodged therefrom.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a framework and body which are detachably secured together by means which is simple in construction, reliable in operation and relatively inexpensive as to cost.

It is another object of this invention to provide a framework and a detachable body therefor in which the body structure may be securely fastened to the framework to insure against accidental dislodgment.

Other objects will become apparent as the description proceeds.

The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

-FIG. 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the chassis or framework with the body removed;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the body shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional illustration taken substantially along section line 44 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a partial side View in enlarged form showing the mechanism by which the body is detachably secured to the chassis or supporting frame.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, a chassis or supporting frame comprises four legs 12, 14 and 16 which are assembled in pairs, legs 10 and 12 constituting one pair and legs 14 and 16 constituting the other pair. The legs are crossed in scissors fashion, with the pair 10, 12 being secured together intermediate the ends thereof by means of a rivet 18 and the pair 14, 16 being similarly secured together by a rivet 20. At the lower ends, the two legs 10 and 14 are connected together by a transverse bar 22 while the legs 12 and 16 are connected together by another transverse bar 24. The upper ends of the two legs 10 and 14 are extended upwardly and are connected together at the top by means of a handlebar 26. Another bar 23 connects at its opposite ends to the two rivets 18 and 20 for holding the leg pairs against movement toward and away from each other at these points.

Secured to the upper ends of the leg pairs 10, 12 and 14, 16 are two elongated, flat, horizontally extending,

rigid supporting bars 30 and 32 which are secured at the oppositeends thereof to the upper ends of the leg pairs, the bar 30 being secured to legs 10 and 12 by rivets 34 and36, respectively, and the bar 32 being secured to the legs 14 and 16 by rivets 38 and 40, respectively. The fiat sides of these two bars 30 and 32 lie in vertical, parallel planes, respectively.

An axle 42 passes through suitable openings in the lower ends of the two legs 10 and 14 adjacent the crossbar 24, wheels 44 being mounted on the outer ends of this axle. Similarly, another axle 46 passes through the lower ends of the two legs 12 and 16, respectively, adjacent the cross-bar 22, and receives on the outer end thereof two wheels 48.

As is shown more clearly in FIGS. 2 and 5, the two bars 30 and 32 are provided with three longitudinally spaced notches in the upper edges thereof, notches 5h, 52 and 54 being in the bar 30 and notches S6, 58 and 60 being in the bar 32. It may be stated at this time that the two bars 30 and 32 preferably are identically constructe of strap steel with the various notches being spaced equal distances apart. Also, the two bars 30 and 32 are positioned such as to lie in a common horizontal plane and are also spaced apart and parallel.

A stroller body indicated generally by the reference numeral 62 is detachably mounted on the two frame bars 30 and 32 as is more clearly shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5. This body 62 comprises a first U-shaped, horizontally disposed frame having opposite parallel side arms 64 and 66 which are connected together at the front end thereof by a cross-bar 68. The opposite or rear ends of the side arms 64 and 66 are connected together by a rigid U-shaped brackrest frame "72 having depending legs 69 and 70 by means of two rivets 74 and 76, Suspended from the U-shaped body frame 64, 66, 68 is a conventional fabric body having a backrest 78, two opposite lateral sides 80, and a front web 82, the lateral sides 35; being suspended from the side arms 64 and 66, respectively, and the web 82 being suspended from the cross-bar 68. The fabric body is also provided with a bottom (54 which is joined to the sides and the back 73. The rivets 74 and 76 which connect to the rear ends of the two body arms 64 and 66, respectively, project laterally outwardly as shown more clearly in FTGS. 3 and 4, these rivets having enlarged heads 86 and 83, respectively, on the outer ends thereof. As will be seen more clearly in FIG. 4, the heads 86 and 88 are spaced outwardly from the respective side arms 66 and 64 by distances corresponding to the thicknesses of the supporting bars 30 and 32., respectively.

In addition to these rivets, another pair of rivets 9 and 92 are fastened to the front ends of the two side arms 66 and 64, respectively, as shown, and extend laterally outwardly therefrom. Heads 94 and 96 are provided on the outer ends of these rivets and 92, respectively. Then, mounted intermediate the rivets on the side arms 64- and 66 are a pair of threaded posts or screws 98 and 1%, respectively, which receive on the outer ends thereof two nuts 102 and 104, respectively. The rivets and screws on the two side arms are spaced equal distances apart the same as the slots 50, 52 and 54 in the supporting bars such that these slots will receive these rivets and screws, respectively, as shown in detail in FIG. 5. When the body is attached to the supporting frame, the side bars 64 and 66 abut against the inner sides of the supporting bars 36) and 32 as shown more clearly in FIG. 4 and extend in parallelism therewith. The heads of the various rivets are adapted to engage the outer sides of the supporting bars 30 and 32, respectively, thereby transversely locking the body frame 64, 66 between thesupporting bars 30 and 32. In addition, the shank portion of the two screws 3 93 and 100 fit into the respective slots 52 and 58 and receive on the outer ends thereof the two nuts 102 and 104, respectively, which may be tightened against the supporting bars 30 and 32. These nuts 102 and i104 serve to fasten the body frame 64, 66 to the supporting bars 30 and 32 thereby insuring against the accidental removal of the body from the chassis.

In order to remove the body 62 from the chassis, it is only necessary to loosen the nuts 102 and 104 and then lift the body from the chassis.

By spacing the three notches in the two supporting bars 30 and 32 equal distances apart, it is possible to reverse the body 62 as shown in dashed lines in FIG. 5. By means of this reversal, a baby or doll sitting in the body 62 may be positioned to either face forwardly or rearwardly as may be desired.

As shown more clearly in FIG. 2, there are no transverse bars or members directly connected between the supporting bars 30 and 32, whereupon it is possible for these supporting bars 30 and 32 to move slightly either toward or away from each other. However, by reason of the body frame 64, 66 and the rivet connections with the supporting bars 30 and 32, the latter are rigidly secured against any relative movement. Therefore, there is distinct structural cooperation between the body frame 64, 66 and the chassis bars 30 and 32 which eliminates the need (as well as the cost) for having any additional frame members connected between the bars 30 and 32 for maintaining the spacing therebetween.

While a stroller chassis or carriage has been shown and described herein, it will be obvious to persons skilled in the art that a different supporting framework may be used wherein the supporting bars 30 and 32 are positioned as already described. For example, instead of a stroller chassis, a swing or glider framework having the two bars 30 and 32 may be used, and in these instances the body 62 may be detachably secured thereto as already described. Thus the invention has unique versatility as to ease of manipulation as well as use in connection with various types of frame supports.

While I have described above the principles of my invention in connection Wtih specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a supporting frame having two pairs of crossed legs, said pairs lying in two planes, respectively, which are spaced apart and parallel, two horizontally extending elongated bars which are spaced apart and parallel, each bar being connected at longitudinally spaced points thereon to the upper ends of a respective pair of said legs, each bar having a plurality of longitudinally spaced upwardly opening notches in the upper edge thereof, a rigid body frame having two transversely spaced apart and parallel side arms, each of said side arms having a plurality of relatively short outwardly projecting horizontally extending posts secured thereto which are spaced apart distances equal to the spacing between said notches in the respective bar, said body frame being removably fitted snugly within said supporting frame with said two side arms respectively extending parallel with said bars thereby strengthening said supporting frame, the posts of each side arm being respectively received in the notches of the respective bar thereby providing vertical support for said body frame, and means for removably securing said two side arms to said two bars, respectively, for preventing lateral movement of said body frame with respect to said supporting frame and for holding said frames in relatively fixed assembled relation.

pairs of crossed legs, said pairs lying in two planes, respectively, which are spaced apart and parallel, two horizontally extending elongated bars which are spaced apart and parallel, said bars having no connection therebetween in the plane thereof, each bar being connected at longitudinally spaced points thereon to the upper ends of a respective pair of said legs, each bar having a plurality of longitudinally spaced upwardly opening notches in the upper edge thereof, a rigid body frame having two transversely spaced apart and parallel side arms, each of said side arms having a plurality of relatively short outwardly projecting horizontally extending posts secured thereto which are spaced apart distances equal to the spacing between said notches in the respective bar, said body frame being removably fitted snugly within said supporting frame with said two side arms respectively extending parallel with said bars thereby strengthening said supporting frame, the posts of each side arm being respectively received in the notches of the respective bar thereby providing vertical support for said body frame, at least one of the posts of each side arm having a head on the outer extremity thereof, said heads being engageable with the outer sides of the respective bars for limiting spreading movement of said bars,and means for removably securing said two side arms to said two bars, respectively, for preventing lateral movement of said body frame with respect to said supporting frame and for holding said frames in relatively fixed assembled relation.

3. In combination, a supporting frame having two pairs of crossed legs, said pairs lying in two planes, respectively, which are spaced apart and parallel, two horizontally extending elongated bars which are spaced apart and parallel, said bars having no connection therebetween in the plane thereof, each bar being connected at longitudinally spaced points thereon to the upper ends of a respective pair of said legs, each bar having a plurality of longitudinally spaced upwardly opening notches in the upper edge thereof, a rigid body frame having two transversely spaced apart and parallel side arms, each of said side arms having a plurality of relatively short outwardly projecting horizontally extending posts secured thereto which are spaced apart distances equal to the spacing between said notches in the respective bar, said body frame being removably fitted snugly within said supporting frame with said two side arms respectively extending parallel with said bars thereby strengthening said supporting frame, the posts of each side arm being respectively received in the notches of the respective bar thereby providing vertical support for said body frame, at least one of the posts on each side arm having a head on the outer extremity thereof, said heads being engageable with the outer sides of the respective bars for limiting spreading movement of said bars, one other of the posts on each side arm being threaded and receiving a threaded fastener thereon which engages the outer side of the respective bar thereby removably securing said two side arms to said two bars respectively, for preventing lateral movement of said body frame with respect to said supporting frame and for holding said frame in relatively fixed assembled relation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 741,402 Holderman Oct. 13, 1903 2,873,123 Eppinger Feb. 10, 1959 2,980,212 Foster Apr. 18, 1961 

